1. Field
The present invention relates generally to electronically distributed coupons and other offers and, more specifically, to caching geolocated offers related to geographic areas in which users are known to have low quality or no wireless connectivity prior to users entering those areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Offer distribution systems are used by merchants (e.g. retailers, service providers, and the like) to convey offers (e.g. coupons, rewards, or sales) to consumers over networks, like the Internet. In some cases, offers may be redeemable in-store, for example, by a consumer printing the offer at home and presenting the printout to a store clerk or by the consumer presenting the offer with a mobile device, like a cell phone, to the merchant. In some cases, offers may be redeemable online, for example, on a merchant's website by a consumer entering an offer-specific code at checkout. Generally, one or more entities operating an offer distribution system obtain data describing the offers from merchants, and the offer distribution system is used to distribute the offers to (in some cases, select) consumers and help consumers find relevant offers. In many cases, merchants compensate entities operating offer distribution systems for such services, for example, based on offer impressions or redemptions by consumers. In one type of offer distribution system, an affiliate network distributes offers to publishers, and the publishers then distribute offers to consumers. In this type of system, the affiliate network typically tracks redemptions of the offers, such that the publishers can be compensated by merchants. In another type of offer distribution system, a single entity obtains the offers from a merchant and distributes those offers to consumers, e.g., using websites or native mobile applications provided by that entity to consumers to access the offer distribution system.